Introducing DUST 514, a Persistent Shooter from CCP

Hi everyone! I’m the Community Manager for DUST 514, an upcoming title from CCP. This is the first time you’ll have seen DUST 514 highlighted on the PlayStation.Blog and we’re happy that we can reveal more about our game to you.

DUST 514 is a very different type of game. Yes, many people say this about their respective game titles — everyone thinks their baby is special, right? We really mean it though.

When playing your FPS title of choice, have you ever wished that there was something more to it beyond your rank, weapon unlocks, your kill/death ratio and leaderboard prominence? Those things are all great – but what if those matches you fought in actually meant something? What if your successes and failures against your opponents impacted the course of events in a vast setting, potentially changed a virtual world and the gameplay experience of thousands of other players? More than that, what if that impact was felt across two separate games – one on PS3 and one on PC/Mac – that share the same sci-fi universe?

DUST 514 is that game.

The Persistent Shooter Concept

Some may know CCP as the creator of EVE Online, a sci-fi MMO with an open galactic setting. It’s a game perhaps best known for its sweeping fleet battles involving thousands of players, its dynamic player-driven economy, and for having (and allowing!) espionage and spycraft. We think of EVE as the ultimate sci-fi simulation, and that’s where DUST 514 comes in. It’s a whole new way of experiencing the EVE universe through what we call a “persistent shooter”.

“Persistence” is the key word here. The world of DUST 514 doesn’t spawn when you fire up your PlayStation 3 — it’s always there and always being experienced and influenced by other players in the EVE universe. When you take part in events in the EVE universe through combat in DUST 514, you’re taking part in something greater than your own individual experience of that world.

Your Battles Have Impact

Your actions have significance. We think that’s a compelling approach to a game, and something that’s currently lacking in the industry. But impact on what? The EVE universe is made up of thousands of solar systems, each with a number of planets within those systems. Those same planets seen in EVE Online, where the MMO players create various planetary structures and colonies, are the potential battlegrounds of DUST 514.

Your fights impact the entire EVE setting, comprised of both DUST 514 mercenaries and EVE Online starship pilots, known as “capsuleers“. When you capture or destroy planetary structures, you are asserting dominance over regions of that planet – perhaps eventually the planet itself. As you profit while wiping out your opposition in DUST 514, the outcomes of these conflicts can affect territorial control of vast regions of space in EVE Online, something of great importance to EVE’s starship pilots.

But making allies of some capsuleers makes rivals of others… and that’s where things get even more interesting. (Can you say, “orbital strike“?) Players of both games will have ways of influencing each other, and actions will ripple between DUST 514 and EVE Online.

Part of what makes EVE Online uncommon among MMOs is that the open setting allows for emergent gameplay. Large-scale fleet warfare is fought among the stars in complex military campaigns that can span months, while spies can infiltrate corps and funnel sensitive intel to the opposition. Industrialists plot and topple rivals on the financial markets rather than through violence; skilled corps of hired guns settle disputes through… aggressive negotiations. This is just a fraction of what players accomplish in the EVE setting, which DUST 514 mercenaries will find their own unique ways to engage in. The possibilities are all there to become a part of this, but what happens is up to you.

Of course, either game can exist on its own without the EVE-DUST Link, but both sides benefit from it greatly when the players of each respective game choose to use the connections for all they’re worth.

A Single Community That Spans DUST 514 and EVE Online

Ah, an aspect of DUST 514 that’s near and dear to my heart. Those friends and enemies you make between the games leads to a great deal of player community interaction. CCP provides the setting with the EVE universe but ultimately it’s you, the players, who really breathe life into it. And people have certainly done so already, long before DUST 514 was even a twinkle in our eye.

EVE Online has history spanning more than eight years, with a vibrant and (usually) mature community linked together through EVE Gate, a social network for EVE players that is tied in with their characters. EVE Online players use it to communicate with their friends and enemies alike, and interact with their corporation even when not playing the game. We will open EVE Gate up to DUST 514 players as well. Opportunities will always be there for those who want to be part of the social fabric of this linked community, the wider EVE setting.

There are definitely challenges ahead, with a unified console and PC gamer community each influencing a shared setting through their respective types of gameplay. Rivalries, alliances and, dare I say, even some drama. Interesting times.

The Virtual Goods Economy

A strength of EVE Online is the depth of its economy. We are taking a similar approach to DUST 514, though we will do so carefully, with a slow integration of economic activity between both titles. (Fun fact: CCP employs two economists to oversee the EVE universe’s virtual economy, one for EVE Online and another focused on DUST 514.)

Virtual goods will be a major part of the in-game economy, and our business model for DUST 514 is built upon digital distribution and virtual goods transactions rather than following the traditional boxed games model. In fact, that’s another key thing that led us to abandon the FPS label in the first place — as a persistent shooter, our approach to creating and operating DUST 514 is more like an MMO. We will continually develop and improve upon DUST 514, but that won’t be funded by going the ‘map pack sales’ route. DUST 514 will have free expansions, and that development will be funded through virtual goods sales. Plus, everyone likes having customization options, right?

The virtual goods themselves will provide all manner of weaponry and defensive technology, vehicles, and more. This perpetual arms race will provide DUST players with variety in their gameplay and an array of virtual goods that supports a chosen playstyle.

“Would you like to know more?”

We are just now beginning to pull back the curtain and reveal more about DUST 514. So this is an important time for CCP, and we’re very much looking forward to bringing you something that’s quite unique in the gaming world. If you’d like to hear more about DUST 514, be sure to check the following for more info over the coming months:

Thomas: It’s a thinking man’s shooter. One of the core tenets of belief and design at CCP is the sandbox, and not treating our players like they’re [DELETED]. I’ll give you an example. You don’t go onto the battlefield and pick, say, a sniper, and be given this stuff. We give you the tools to create your fit, your loadout. You create your own role on the battlefield. And the possibilities, the ways of doing that, are endless. Endlessly terrifying to our QA department.

In a recent Massively article it states that we will have to pay the cover price (money that will be converted into isk). However, this seems at odds with the CCP press release that stated that Dust 514 will be a free download without subscription.

Now, I know that Dust 514 will have no subscription, but is the article in Massively accurate? Will we have to pay for Dust 514 before being able to download it?

As an EVE player for a while I’ve got a few questions about this.(sorry about all the questions)

As you know in EVE we can warp through planets, what would happen if the spot I “accidentally” decided to warp through just so ended up being the battlefield?

And earlier you mentioned one of the soldiers had a hybrid gun, can we expect lasers, drones, projectile, ECM, smart bombs, doomsdays, exotic dancers(they equal power you know), rockets/missiles, and any other things I may end up forgetting.

And as far as player defenses go, will it be more or less along the same lines as EVE online, armor tank, shield tank, fleshy body tank? And if we’re Caldari will we still be able to hide in cardboard boxes with super powered shields?

Oh, and as you can “invade” planets, will we see any invasions of capitol planets, I mean Caldari Prime, and Gallente Prime are in spitting distance, and they’re not exactly friendly. And maybe not capitol planets, but high sec planets.

And will a Goonswarm like strategy be possible? I mean like arming thousands of soldiers with rocks and twigs and telling them to attack, and just out swarming the enemy?

As cool as it would be, it will NOT be possible to literally warp an EVE Online starship into a DUST 514 conflict hotspot and reduce everything to a huge crater. That would be the ultimate suicide gank though. ;) Also, I know I mentioned this elsewhere, but EVE Online ships will not fly from space down to planetary surfaces. EVE is in space, DUST is on planets.

Sorry, no comment on exotic dancers and other equally devastating weapons that exist in EVE Online being put to use in DUST 514.

How will the “life system” work, with EVE we have to pay for clones, will that be the same for dust, or would the default free clone be good enough for the average soldier?

As you had that video of the “future vision” of eve online. Will there be a mix of Dust soldiers and something with moving around stations? I mean it could be possible, and the video kind of showed something loosely along those lines.

Will the trade system have the same general rules as EVE online? With the market, contracts, and Jita. Because we all love local in Jita, you know you do, even if you hate scams you love Jita.

But back to the weapons thing, would ECM be possible, I mean vehicles look to be very important, and waaaaaay back you had a video of Dust 514 gameplayer, and you talked about hacking. Which in idea could go along with ECM or ECCM.

This is CCP’s vision of the ways in which EVE Online capsuleers and DUST 514 mercenaries will both work together, and work against each other. A Future Vision shows the space combat EVE Online is already known for, the avatars and space station elements we’re bringing to EVE Online through Incarna, and of course ground combat in DUST 514. The trailer shows how we want it all tie together, one day. We’re not there yet – but this is our vision of what is to come. So I hope you all can appreciate the directions we’re taking with this single, expanded EVE universe.

Note that A Future Vision is followed by the trailer embedded in the PS.Blog above, showing that we want for DUST mercs to be able to hit back. And hit back hard.

Again sorry if my questions are unanswerable, I’m sure most of them are. I’m just trying to get an idea of what we might expect, and I didn’t see any of these questions answered really, and some might spark some ideas.

Oh and will we be able to nuke the planet from orbit, I know it was said in a joking manner before, but can we?
And if we can shoots Ground to space to destroy Moros, can we shoot stations, POS or ones in high-sec?

And you know you love jIta, and if you ever need isk feel free to blindly send billions of isk to Paperclip Tank I’ll happily double mine, I mean your wallet.

And again, sorry for all the questions, and spelling errors, and them being mostly unanswerable.

Hope you read this shadow :D . This game if done right will be the pinnacle of persistance gaming or revolutionise gaming in general , but it has to be done well from the get get – go or at least from the near beginning

But people needs to know so that this can happen . The trailer to some who dont know about eve or dust , will think it looks like genetic fps IMO . To get people to realise of how very awesome the game is the trailers/ gameplay trailers has to be big as the game is :D. It will show that this game isnt just ” another shooter” . When marketing consoles you got to show people how different and unique this game is otherwise the game will go under the dozens of Fps games that are all ready in the industry.

Since this is a exclusive Im think you can have sony help market Dust if you market Dust you be marketing eve at the same time .

Well, it’s clear that you see how we’re really taking things in a different direction with DUST 514, and that it’s not always the easiest thing to do in this industry. The scale of the EVE universe, its player history – more to the point, it being a setting shaped and driven by player actions – is not a simple concept to fully convey to anyone who’s never heard of EVE before. Trying to encapsulate this sort of depth into a few minute long trailer is difficult, if not impossible, though I really like how our DUST 514 trailers have turned out.

There is a lot of enthusiasm here at CCP after E3. It seems we’ve caught the attention of a great number of people and now that the big announcements have happened, the dev team is hard at work. Well, they always have been, but I would say that there seems to be a different sort of energy here among the people I’ve spoken with since DUST 514 had some time in the spotlight.

We will continue to reveal more about the game in the coming months, but for the devs their main focus right now is of course the game. That said, I will continue to put the screws to them and make sure we’ve got more dev blogs explaining various facets of DUST 514 to you all. :) It may be at a slower pace than an information-hungry audience might want, but the fact that you and so many others are dying to hear more is great news for the DUST team.

Definitely going to have to get into this game. But, I do have a question: In eve, the player has the choice of running missions for the different NPC factions, or fulfilling their own cruel desires against/with/for other players/Corporations…Will this choice be given to Dust514 Mercenaries?

Oh man…. every time I get new info on this game I get all revved up been eye F’ing this game for a long time now, surprising it doesn’t seem to be on the xbox but I’m not complaining. Fact is, given what Eve is and especially now after meeting you guys at Gencon way back in the day and getting a bunch of a free trial CD’s for my friends back home and myself I think you guys are the only people who can make somthing this nutz work.

CCP envisions some epic things being possible through an expanded EVE setting that encompasses both space and planetary surface gameplay. We may in fact be nuts but they said this about CCP years ago when we had this idea of breaking away the norm in a fantasy title dominated MMO industry, creating a gritty sci-fi setting in an open sandbox that players define with EVE Online. We think that’s turned out pretty well and we’re, to say the very least, optimistic about what the future holds with DUST 514.

Great job mate! By reading through all of these comments and your replies a fair few of my questions have been answered.

I do however have a couple more, and I feel that perhaps they should be of special consideration to the dev team as I feel they will have an impact on eve players.

In other articles/interviews I’ve read the DUST mercs will be able to go to planets across high, low and null-sec: My question is, how will eve players who use PI, particularly newer players, be able to defend their planets if they can’t afford to hire dust mercenaries? Will there be planetary/orbital defense structures they can purchase? (i mean realistically mercenaries coming to a new planet will have to be transported there… surely a planet would be able to have some means of preventing them from docking/landing on the planet?)

For null-sec alliances in particular, a lot of them work hard to defend their borders of their controlled systems etc. Surely an enemy alliance (or random dust corp) wouldn’t be able to just waltz on in, undetected, and just start assaulting (on the ground with Dust players) one of that alliance’s main planets?

I would hope that perhaps the advancing/attacking alliance/corp would need to have some kind of presence in that system first where their ships have actually made it past the gate camps and bubbles and then perhaps even taken out the planetary defense systems (as I mentioned in previous question which really could be much like defense structures on a POS (player owned station – an existing eve feature) before they can begin ground assault.

Note… My above concept wouldn’t really be a problem by limiting dust players from having planetary stations to attack – alliance sovereignty wars have for a long time always been fighting over systems where their borders meet and are constantly destroying each other’s player owned (moon) stations (POS).

Ok I see …. but in a way I was think that u guys can show a longer video that’ll explain about the universe and gameplay more throughly … kinda like a vidoc like what Bungie does …. sometime in the future of course.

Anyway some questions …. I read something in an article that says that’ll everytime you die … u lose all ur gear. What will u guys do to prevent camping if players start doing it? And what about people who’ll kill their own teammates?

Besides the intergration and fitting system…. how will Dust stand out ?
Will the four factions play differently?
Considering this is si fi game how creative will the weapons and vehicles be?
I’m really looking forward to this… I’m confidant u guys do excellent work with it !

Also, I have to say that the info you’re asking for your touches upon specifics of game mechanics and gear that I’m not able to explain yet. That info will come from the DUST 514 producers and game designers over the next year ramping up to release.

You did ask how DUST 514 will stand out. What differentiates DUST 514 from other titles out there is exactly what you mentioned in the question — it’s really all about that integration, the ability to truly establish something in the setting beyond your own rep/your clan’s rep (or destroying what your rivals establish). It’s what makes DUST 514 something that I think some people will still need some time to fully wrap their mind around. It’s a pretty bold concept, this whole idea of world shaping, but people certainly seem to be taking notice. Gamers and industry types alike. Very interesting times.

Also, the concept of the fitting system which we developed with EVE Online will carry over to DUST 514. With the right gear and customizable loadouts, you move past the static ‘classes’ seen in other titles. You can certainly create loadouts that fulfill such roles, but you’re not trapped into those ruts. You can do whatever you want, dependent upon what technology you have at your fingertips as a merc, what your particular objectives are, and what kind of competition you’re up against.

So while I can’t explain the details of what particular weapons and other gear you could load out with, I can say that you’ll have a great deal of flexibility in how you approach combat scenarios in DUST 514, and you’ll also be able loadout in ways that counter your opposition’s approach to battle, to some extent.

Thanks for the link to that interview, it certainly answered a lot of questions I had.

I would like to know how the economy in EVE is going to be affected by DUST. In the trailer that was shown at E3, the armour alone appeared to cost thousands more than a T1 Frigate. Will the prices in EVE be tweaked to reflect the new DUST pricing, or were the prices shown for DUST equipment not representative of the upcoming economy?

Also, I seem to remember reading somewhere that Tritanium, while great for building spacefaring ships, was unstable in planetary atmospheres. Does this mean that the materials used for building planetary dropships and barges will be harder to come by?

The 007 nickname is already unofficially claimed by someone else at CCP, but you should expect to see a new dev blog in a few weeks from now, and a DUST 514 Chronicle (short fiction that fleshes out the EVE setting further) sooner than that.

You’re welcome. And The REGIS is not pestering at all. On the contrary, I love that you all have so many questions. I’m not able to answer all of them though, given we’ve really only just made our platform reveal and announced the release window. This is really just the beginning of us opening the door to DUST 514. There’s still so much for CCP to convey to you all in the next year, but I hope you’ll stick with us and learn more about DUST 514 over time.

please allow us to customize button layouts for controls. Or at least offer a decent range of common preset configurations. i.e. Modern Warfare, Bad Company, Resistance, Halo (for the Xbox people who’re gonna be converted to PS3), Killzone and more.

and what happens when you die area… obviously it needs to have some kind of loss so the economy, as it is currently in eve, is constantly fuelled by war; but I think the devs/designers need to be VERY CAREFUL hear as FPS games always have issues with people spawn camping and team-killing. Furthermore, at least in Eve there is such a thing as high-sec where you can safely mission or mine. Dust being a FPS, I imagine you only make money by killing enemies can carrying out contracts? Don’t forget there are a lot of gamers who kind of suck at shooting people but still enjoy the game because they can easily respawn without losing their guns etc.

@DICard I don’t think it’s dependent on the game dude… I got a mate who managed to setup his keyboard and mouse on his PS3 and it works with every game he’s tried it on – i think it’s just a matter of button mapping…

I’ve heard several different release dates, ranging from December of this year to summer of 2012. This game sounds amazing and I don’t want to have to wait another year for it. I’m a bit impatient. Also is this not supposed to be there but amazon says that the release date will be for December 31st. I’d like to know, and also, can any one shed some light on when the beta will be? Or if there will be any specifications to get it ? example-(such as having preordered MOH to get the BF3 beta).

I wasn’t saying that I was going by amazons posting… I was merely saying I found it odd that the two dates were so off. Perhaps I didn’t convey myself correctly. Also I think they’ve been working on it long enough! For about four or five years? I’m just joking, yes I know that rushed games aren’t usually good. Well, I suppose that battlefield 3 will keep me tided over for a while.